Radar-Based Gesture-Recognition through a Wearable Device

ABSTRACT

This document describes techniques and devices for radar-based gesture-recognition through a wearable device. The techniques enable an easy-to-use input interface through this wearable radar device, in contrast to small or difficult-to-use input interfaces common to wearable computing devices. Further, these techniques are not limited to interfacing with wearable computing devices, but may aid users in controlling various non-wearable devices, such as to control volume on a stereo, pause a movie playing on a television, or select a webpage on a desktop computer.

PRIORITY APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/403,066, entitled “Radar-Based Gesture-Recognition through a WearableDevice” and filed on Jan. 10, 2017, which, in turn, claims priorityunder 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/007,324, entitled “Radar-Based Gesture-Recognition through a WearableDevice” and filed on Jun. 3, 2014, and U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/312,486, entitled “Radar-Based Gesture-Recognition through a WearableDevice” and filed Jun. 23, 2014, the disclosures of which isincorporated in its entirety by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Wearable computing devices continue to increase in popularity, as thesedevices are small and light, easy to wear and keep track of, and oftenhave substantial computing capabilities. Wearable computing devices,however, generally have small or difficult-to-use input interfaces. Acomputing ring or bracelet, for example, may use a very small touchscreen through which to receive user input. Not only is it difficult formany user to see what to select, physically selecting the desiredportion of the small touch screen can also be challenging. Otherwearable computing devices, such as computing spectacles, may use smallintegrated buttons. Small integrated buttons offer few choices and mayrequire users to remember functions associated with the buttons,resulting in a poor user experience.

To address these input limitations, users may augment their wearablecomputing devices with relatively large peripheral inputs interfaces,such as touch displays. This solution, however, adds another device,which increases cost, size, weight, and complexity for the user, whichin turn defeats many of the reasons for which users desire wearablecomputing devices.

SUMMARY

This document describes techniques and devices for radar-basedgesture-recognition through a wearable device. The techniques enable aneasy-to-use input interface through this wearable radar device, incontrast to small or difficult-to-use input interfaces common towearable computing devices. Further, these techniques are not limited tointerfacing with wearable computing devices, but may aid users incontrolling various non-wearable devices, such as to control volume on astereo, pause a movie playing on a television, or select a webpage on adesktop computer.

This summary is provided to introduce simplified concepts concerning aradar-based gesture-recognition through a wearable device, which isfurther described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is notintended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter,nor is it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimedsubject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of techniques and devices for radar-basedgesture-recognition are described with reference to the followingdrawings. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to referencelike features and components:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which radar-basedgesture-recognition through a wearable device can be implemented.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example wearable radar-based gesture-recognitionsystem and wearable computing device.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example 3D volume radar field emitted by thewearable radar-based gesture-recognition system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example surface radar field emitted by thewearable radar-based gesture-recognition system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 illustrates another example surface radar field emitted by thewearable radar-based gesture-recognition system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 illustrates a third example surface radar field emitted by thewearable radar-based gesture-recognition system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example planar radar field emitted by the wearableradar-based gesture-recognition system of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 illustrates a first interaction with an example dual-planar radarfield emitted by the wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system ofFIG. 2.

FIG. 9 illustrates a second interaction with the example dual-planarradar field of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example radar field conforming to a shirt-sleevecollar emitted by the wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system ofFIG. 2.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example remote computing device.

FIG. 12 illustrates example methods enabling use of a radar-basedgesture-recognition through a wearable device.

FIG. 13 illustrates methods enabling use of a radar-basedgesture-recognition through a wearable device, including throughparticular controls for an application.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example device embodying, or in which techniquesmay be implemented that enable use of, a radar-based gesture-recognitionthrough a wearable device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview

This document describes techniques using, and devices embodying,radar-based gesture-recognition. These techniques and devices can enablea great breadth of gestures and uses for those gestures through awearable radar system. When the wearable radar system is part of awearable computing device, for example, radar-based gesture-recognitionenables users to provide input through a surface larger than a braceletor ring, such as to tap the top of the user's left hand with the user'sright finger to input a selection. Here the larger surface is the top ofthe user's left hand on which a localized radar field is overlaid. Thewearable radar system may instead be used to control and interact withother computing devices, such as to receive simple or highly complexgestures without a user having to touch a remote touch screen, makelarge body movements for a game controller, or walk to a sound systemreceiver to adjust a volume knob or button.

These are but two examples of how techniques and/or devices enabling useof radar-based gesture-recognition through a wearable device can beperformed. This document now turns to an example environment, afterwhich example radar-based gesture-recognition systems, example methods,and an example computing system are described.

Example Environment

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example environment 100 in whichtechniques using, and an apparatus including, a radar-basedgesture-recognition system may be embodied. Environment 100 includes awearable computing device 102, wearable radar-based gesture-recognitionsystems 104, a network 106, and remote computing devices 108.Environment 100 includes two example devices and manners for usingwearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104, the first is shownat 104-1, in which the wearable radar-based gesture-recognition systemis integral with wearable computing device 102, and the second is shownat 104-2, in which the wearable radar-based gesture-recognition systemis independent of wearable computing device 102. These wearableradar-based gesture-recognition systems 104-1 and 104-2 are describedgenerally below, after which they are illustrated in detail.

Wearable computing device 102 includes wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104-1, and in this case these devices worktogether to improve user interaction with wearable computing device 102.Assume, for example, that wearable computing device 102 includes a smalltouch screen 110 through which display and user interaction areperformed. This small touch screen 110 can present some challenges tousers, as the size for selecting inputs, and therefore generally theaccuracy needed by users, can make interaction difficult andtime-consuming Consider, however, wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104-1, which provides a localized radar field112 overlaying a top of a user's hand 114. As is readily apparent, anarea through which a user may make selections is substantially increasedover that of small touch screen 110.

Wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104-2 is shownindependent of wearable computing device 102. Assume here that wearableradar-based gesture-recognition system 104-2 interacts with remotecomputing devices 108 through network 106 and by transmitting inputresponsive to recognizing gestures, here a thumb-and-middle-fingergesture 116 is shown interacting with localized radar field 118.Gestures can be mapped to various remote computing devices 108 and theirapplications, thereby enabling control of many devices and applications.Many complex and unique gestures can be recognized by wearableradar-based gesture-recognition systems 104, thereby permitting preciseand/or single-gesture control, even for multiple applications. Wearableradar-based gesture-recognition systems 104, whether integrated with acomputing device, having computing capabilities, or having few computingabilities, can each be used to interact with remote computing devices108.

Network 106 includes one or more of many types of wireless or partlywireless communication networks, such as a local-area-network (LAN), awireless local-area-network (WLAN), a personal-area-network (PAN), awide-area-network (WAN), an intranet, the Internet, a peer-to-peernetwork, point-to-point network, a mesh network, and so forth.

Remote computing devices 108 are illustrated with various non-limitingexample devices: server 108-1, smartphone 108-2, laptop 108-3, computingspectacles 108-4, television 108-5, camera 108-6, tablet 108-7, anddesktop 108-8, though other devices may also be used, such as homeautomation and control systems, sound or entertainment systems, homeappliances, security systems, netbooks, and e-readers. Note that remotecomputing device 108 can be wearable, non-wearable but mobile, orrelatively immobile (e.g., desktops and servers).

In more detail, consider FIG. 2, which illustrates wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104 both as part, and independent, ofwearable computing device 102. Note also that wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104 can be used with, or embedded within,many different garments, accessories, and computing devices, such as theexample remote computing devices 108 noted above, jackets (e.g., with alocalized radar field on a sleeve or sleeve collar), hats, books,computing rings, spectacles, and so forth. Further, the localized radarfield can be invisible and penetrate some materials, such as textiles,thereby further expanding how the wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104 can be used and embodied. While examplesshown herein generally show one wearable radar-based gesture-recognitionsystem 104 per device, multiples can be used, thereby increasing anumber and complexity of gestures, as well as accuracy and robustrecognition. Wearable computing device 102 includes one or more computerprocessors 202 and computer-readable media 204, which includes memorymedia and storage media. Applications and/or an operating system (notshown) embodied as computer-readable instructions on computer-readablemedia 204 can be executed by processors 202 to provide some of thefunctionalities described herein. Computer-readable media 204 alsoincludes gesture manager 206 (described below).

Computing device 102 may also include network interfaces 208 forcommunicating data over wired, wireless, or optical networks. By way ofexample and not limitation, network interface 208 may communicate dataover a local-area-network (LAN), a wireless local-area-network (WLAN), apersonal-area-network (PAN), a wide-area-network (WAN), an intranet, theInternet, a peer-to-peer network, point-to-point network, a meshnetwork, and the like (e.g., through network 106 of FIG. 1). Wearablecomputing device 102 includes a display 210, which can betouch-sensitive, though this is not required.

Wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104, as noted above, isconfigured to sense gestures. To enable this, wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104 includes a microwave radio element 212,an antenna element 214, and a signal processor 216.

Generally, microwave radio element 212 is configured to provide alocalized radar field. This localized radar field is generally small,such as less than one half of one meter from the microwave radioelement. Microwave radio element 212 can be configured to emitcontinuously modulated radiation, ultra-wideband radiation, orsub-millimeter-frequency radiation. Microwave radio element 212, in somecases, is configured to form radiation in beams, the beams aidingantenna element 214 and signal processor 216 to determine which of thebeams are interrupted, and thus locations of interactions within thelocalized radar field.

Antenna element 214 is configured to sense interactions in the localizedradar field, and signal processor 216 is configured to process thesensed interactions in the localized radar field sufficient to providegesture data usable to determine a gesture from the sensed interactions.Antenna element 214 can include one or many sensors, such as an array ofradiation sensors, the number in the array based on a desired resolutionand whether the field is a surface, plane, or volume.

The field provided by microwave radio element 212 can be athree-dimensional (3D) volume (e.g., hemisphere, cube, or cylinder), aplane, or a surface applied to human tissue or non-human object. In thecase of a 3D volume (or some embodiments of a field, plane, or surface),antenna element 214 is configured to sense interactions in the 3D volumeof multiple targets (e.g., fingers, one moving finger, or hand elementssuch as knuckles or a palm), and signal processor 216 is configured toprocess the sensed interactions in the 3D volume sufficient to providegesture data usable to determine gestures in three dimensions.

An example of a 3D volume is illustrated in FIG. 3, which shows 3Dvolume radar field 302 emitted by wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104-1 of wearable computing device 102. With3D volume radar field 302, a user may perform complex or simple gestureswith a right hand or device (e.g., a stylus) that interrupts the volume.Example gestures include the many gestures usable with currenttouch-sensitive displays, such as swipes, two-finger pinch and spread,tap, and so forth. Other gestures are enabled that are complex, orsimple but three-dimensional, examples include the many sign-languagegestures, e.g., those of American Sign Language (ASL) and other signlanguages worldwide. A few of these include an up-and-down fist, whichin ASL means “Yes”, an open index and middle finger moving to connect toan open thumb, which means “No”, a flat hand moving up a step, whichmeans “Advance”, a flat and angled hand moving up and down, which means“Afternoon”, clenched fingers and open thumb moving to open fingers andan open thumb, which means “taxicab”, an index finger moving up in aroughly vertical direction, which means “up”, and so forth. These arebut a few of many gestures that can be mapped to particular devices orapplications, such as the Advance gesture to skip to another song on aweb-based radio application, a next song on a compact disk playing on astereo, or a next page or image in a file or album on a computer displayor digital picture frame.

The localized radar field can also include a surface applied to humantissue or non-human object. In this case, antenna element 214 isconfigured to sense an interaction in the surface and signal processor216 is configured to process the sensed interaction in the surfacesufficient to provide gesture data usable to determine a gesture.

Example surfaces are illustrated in FIG. 1, at localized radar field112, and in FIGS. 4, 5, and 6. FIG. 4 illustrates surface radar field402 emitted by wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104-2 ofFIG. 1. With surface radar field 402, a user's hand (right hand 404) mayinteract to perform gestures, such as to tap on the user's other hand(left hand 406), thereby interrupting surface radar field 402. Examplegestures include single and multi-finger swipe, spread, squeeze,non-linear movements, and so forth. Similarly, FIGS. 5 and 6 illustratessurface radar fields 502 and 602, respectively, emitted by wearableradar-based gesture-recognition system 104-1 of FIG. 1 (obscured byright hand 504 or left hand 604) in conjunction with wearable computingdevice 102. With surface radar field 502 or 602, a same hand as a handon which wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104-1 resides(right hand 504 or left hand 604) may interact with to perform gestureson curved object 506 (here a can) or a flat object (on which surfaceradar field 602 of FIG. 6 is applied, such as a table surface, a wall,etc.), thereby interrupting surface radar field 502 or 602.

The localized radar field can also include one or more planes throughwhich a user may interact. In this case, antenna element 214 isconfigured to sense an interaction in the planes and signal processor216 is configured to process the sensed interaction in the surfacesufficient to provide gesture data usable to determine a gesture.

Example planes are illustrated in FIG. 1, at localized radar field 118,and in FIGS. 7, 8, and 9. FIG. 7 illustrates planar radar field 702emitted by wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104-2 ofFIG. 1. With planar radar field 702, a user's hand (left hand 704) mayinteract with the plane by performing gestures, such as to tap throughthe plane, thereby interrupting planar radar field 702, or through manyof the other gestures contemplated herein, such as an up-and-down firstmovement to mean “Yes”. Other highly complex and simple gestures canused, including those common the touch-sensitive displays, but also manymore because a gesture can continue through the plane, which is notpermitted with touch-sensitive displays. For example, a gesture wheretwo fingers are placed in the plane and the clutched back like asqueezing movement, can be interpreted as a new gesture relative to atwo-finger tap or swipe.

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate interactions with example dual-planar radarfields 802 and 804, both emitted by one or more of wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104-1 (obscured in FIG. 8) or 104-2 (obscuredin FIG. 9) of FIG. 1. FIG. 8 illustrates a user's right hand 806interacting with one of the dual-planar radar fields, here field 802,through which the user may perform various gestures. FIG. 9 illustratesanother interaction, here with both of dual-planar radar fields 802 and804, with squeezing-and-moving action 902 performed by right hand 904.This is but one of many of the contemplated, complex gestures that arenot permitted with a touch-sensitive display.

By way of a last illustrated example of localized radar fields, considerFIG. 10, which illustrates an example radar field 1002 conforming to ashirt-sleeve collar 1004 emitted by wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104 (obscured) of FIG. 1. As noted herein,the localized radar field can be emitted or sensed to be preferentiallytailored to fabric or human tissue. In this case, shirt-sleeve collar1004 can be a material affecting radar field 1002 or simply be anynormal clothing material. Thus, shirt-sleeve collar 1004 can be similarto curved object 506 of FIG. 5 (affecting the radar field) or oflocalized radar fields shown in FIG. 3 (volume) or FIG. 4, 7, 8, or 9(less or not affecting the radar field).

In addition to these example localized radar fields, other are alsocontemplated, such as volumetric fan visually similar to plane 702 ofFIG. 7, or multiple planes or surfaces to better enable multi-handgestures. Thus, two or more planes provided by microwave radio element212 or two or more surfaces (e.g., to both user's hands, even from asingle wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104), therebyallowing highly complex multi-hand gestures. These multi-hand gesturesnumber in the many hundreds or even thousands for even one of the manysign languages currently in use.

Returning to FIG. 2, wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104also includes a transmitting device configured to transit gesture datato a remote device, though this many not be used when wearableradar-based gesture-recognition system 104 is integrated with wearablecomputing device 102. When included, gesture data can be provided in aformat usable by remote computing device 108 sufficient for remotecomputing device 108 to determine the gesture in those cases where thegesture is not determined by wearable radar-based gesture-recognitionsystem 104 or wearable computing device 102.

In more detail, microwave radio element 212 can be configured to emitmicrowave radiation in a 1 GHz to 300 GHz range, as well as a 3 GHz to100 GHz range, to provide the localized radar field. This range affectsantenna element 214's ability to sense interactions, such as to tracklocations of two or more targets to a resolution of about two to about25 millimeters. Microwave radio element 212 can be configured, alongwith other entities of wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system104, to have a relatively fast update rate, which can aid in resolutionof the interactions.

By selecting particular frequencies, wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104 can operate to substantially penetrateclothing while not substantially penetrating human tissue. Further,antenna element 214 or signal processor 216 can be configured todifferentiate between interactions in the localized radar field causedby clothing from those interactions in the localized radar field causedby human tissue. Thus, a wearer of wearable radar-basedgesture-recognition system 104 may have a jacket or shirt coveringmicrowave radio element 212 (or even embodying microwave radio element212) and a glove covering one or more hands (e.g., right hand 404 makinga gesture and left hand 406 over which the field is overlaid) butwearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104 remains functional.

Wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104 may also include oneor more system processors 220 and system media 222 (e.g., one or morecomputer-readable storage media). System media 222 includes systemmanager 224, which can perform various operations, including determininga gesture based on gesture data from signal processor 216, mapping thedetermined gesture to a pre-configured control gesture associated with acontrol input for an application associated with remote device 108, andcausing transceiver 218 to transmit the control input to the remotedevice effective to enable control of the application. This is but oneof the ways in which the above-mentioned control through wearableradar-based gesture-recognition system 104 can be enabled. Operations ofsystem manager 224 are provided in greater detail as part of methods1200 and 1300 below.

Returning to FIG. 1, consider remote computing device 108, which isillustrated in detail in FIG. 11. Remote computing device 108 includesone or more computer processors 1102 and computer-readable storage media(storage media) 1104. Storage media 1104 includes applications 1106and/or an operating system (not shown) embodied as computer-readableinstructions executable by computer processors 1102 to provide, in somecases, functionalities described herein. Storage media 1104 alsoincludes remote gesture manager 1108 (described below).

Remote computing device 108 may also include a display 1110 and networkinterfaces 1112 for communicating data over wired, wireless, or opticalnetworks. By way of example and not limitation, network interface 1112may communicate data over a local-area-network (LAN), a wirelesslocal-area-network (WLAN), a personal-area-network (PAN), awide-area-network (WAN), an intranet, the Internet, a peer-to-peernetwork, point-to-point network, a mesh network, and the like.

Remote gesture manager 1108 is capable of interacting with applications1106 and wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104 effectiveto aid, in some cases, control of applications 1106 through gesturesreceived by wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104.

These and other capabilities and configurations, as well as ways inwhich entities of FIGS. 1-11 act and interact, are set forth in greaterdetail below. These entities may be further divided, combined, and soon. The environment 100 of FIG. 1 and the detailed illustrations ofFIGS. 2-10 illustrate some of many possible environments and devicescapable of employing the described techniques.

Example Methods

FIGS. 12 and 13 depict methods enabling radar-based gesture-recognitionthrough a wearable device. These methods and other methods herein areshown as sets of blocks that specify operations performed but are notnecessarily limited to the order or combinations shown for performingthe operations by the respective blocks. In portions of the followingdiscussion reference may be made to environment 100 of FIG. 1 andentities detailed in FIGS. 2-11, reference to which is made for exampleonly. The techniques are not limited to performance by one entity ormultiple entities operating on one device.

At 1202 a localized radar field is presented. This presentation of thelocalized radar field can be caused by one or more of gesture manager206, system manager 224, signal processor 216, or remote gesture manager1108. Thus, system manager 224 may cause microwave radio element 212 ofwearable radar-based gesture-recognition system 104 to present (e.g.,project or emit) one of the described localized radar fields notedabove.

Methods 1200 may present, at 1204, an interface showing selectablecontrol regions of the localized radar field or particular gestures,such as on display 210 or 1110 for wearable computing device 102 orremote computing device 108, respectively. A user may look at a displayand see regions at which various regions select various inputs. Remotegesture manager 1108 may cause television 108-5, for example, to showparticular gestures that, independent of particular regions, representvarious selections, such as quick fan-out of thumb and fingers to mutethe volume, or the noted localized radar field and in which regions ofthe field, such as to tap one region to pause the television and anotherto fast-forward the media being played.

At 1206, an interaction in the localized radar field is sensed. Theseinteraction include the many noted above, such as a up-and-down first torepresent a “Yes” selection, a two-finger tap gesture, or a two-handedgesture, such as tapping opposing index, middle, and thumbs against eachother through a plane or volume to represent an “eat” entry, as is themeaning in some sign languages.

Responsive to the sensed interaction, the techniques may, at 1208,present a visual approximation of a location and/or real-time movementcorresponding to the sensed interaction. This can aid a user byproviding a visual feedback, such as on display 110 of FIG. 1 to show aninteraction with localized radar field 112.

At 1210, a gesture is determined based on the sensed interaction in thelocalized radar field. The sensed interaction can be processed by signalprocessor 216, which may provide gesture data for later determination asto the gesture intended, such as by system manager 224, gesture manager206, or remote gesture manager 1108, as noted herein.

At 1212, the determined gesture is passed to an application or operatingsystem effective to cause an application or operating system to receivean input corresponding to the determined gesture. Thus, a user may makea gesture to pause playback of media on a remote device and, at 1212,the gesture is passed effective to pause the playback. In someembodiments, therefore, wearable radar-based gesture-recognition system104 and these techniques a universal controller for televisions,computers, appliances, and so forth.

In some cases, the techniques, when applying methods 1200 to a wearablecomputing device having the wearable radar-based gesture-recognitionsystem, may also aid the user by showing an object on which thelocalized radar field overlays, such as a user's left hand or topsurface of the user's left hand. The techniques may then present avisual approximation for the object on the display. Following this, andresponsive to sensing an interaction in the localized radar field, thetechniques present the sensed interaction at a location in the visualapproximation for the object corresponding to the sensed interaction'slocation at the object's surface, similar to operation 1208.

FIG. 13 depicts methods 1300 enabling radar-based gesture-recognitionthrough a wearable device, including through particular controls for anapplication.

At 1302, a set of controls through which the application can becontrolled is determined. Gesture manager 206 or system manager 224, forexample, can interact with applications on wearable computing device 102or remote computing devices 108 to determine controls through which auser may interaction with an application. Doing so may involvedetermining user interfaces through which an application is controlled,such as through inspection of the interface (e.g., visual controls),published APIs, and the like.

At 1304, the set or a subset of the controls selectable through alocalized radar field are indicated. This can be through the applicationand the device on which the application is stored, e.g., on a laptop fora web browser, or on wearable computing device 102, such as to show agesture usable to turn off the lights in a room.

At 1306, the localized radar field is provided. Thus, system manager 224may cause microwave radio element 212 to present one of the variouslocalized radar fields described herein.

At 1308, an interaction in the localized radar field is sensed, such asby antenna element 214. This is described in detail elsewhere herein.

At 1310, a control of the set or subset of the controls selected throughthe sensed interaction in the localized radar field is determined. Thiscan be performed by signal processor 216 passing gesture data to variousmanagers as noted herein.

At 1312, the determined control is passed to the application. Methods1300 can be performed on a device remote from the radar-basedgesture-recognition system, such as by remote gesture manager 1108. Inthis case remote gesture manager 1108 determines the set at 1302,indicates the controls on a remote display or causes the indication ondisplay 110 or 210 of wearable computing device 102 and causes, at 1306,the localized radar field to be provided by communicating with wearableradar-based gesture-recognition system 104's transceiver 218. Remotegesture manager 1108 then receives gesture data for the interaction(which may be processed by signal processor 216), and, at 1310,determines based on the gesture data which control was selected beforepassing to the relevant application.

Operations of methods 1300 can be repeated, such as by determining formultiple other applications and other controls through which themultiple other applications can be controlled. Methods 1300 may thenindicate various different controls to control various applications. Insome cases, the techniques determine or assign unique and/or complex andthree-dimensional controls to the different applications, therebyallowing a user to control numerous applications without having toselect to switch control between them.

The preceding discussion describes methods relating to radar-basedgesture-recognition through a wearable devices. Aspects of these methodsmay be implemented in hardware (e.g., fixed logic circuitry), firmware,software, manual processing, or any combination thereof. Thesetechniques may be embodied on one or more of the entities shown in FIGS.1-11 and 14 (computing system 1400 is described in FIG. 14 below), whichmay be further divided, combined, and so on. Thus, these figuresillustrate some of the many possible systems or apparatuses capable ofemploying the described techniques. The entities of these figuresgenerally represent software, firmware, hardware, whole devices ornetworks, or a combination thereof.

Example Computing System

FIG. 14 illustrates various components of example computing system 1400that can be implemented as any type of client, server, and/or computingdevice as described with reference to the previous FIGS. 1-9 toimplement a radar-based gesture-recognition through a wearable device.In embodiments, computing system 1400 can be implemented as one or acombination of a wired and/or wireless wearable device, System-on-Chip(SoC), and/or as another type of device or portion thereof. Computingsystem 1400 may also be associated with a user (e.g., a person) and/oran entity that operates the device such that a device describes logicaldevices that include users, software, firmware, and/or a combination ofdevices.

Computing system 1400 includes communication devices 1402 that enablewired and/or wireless communication of device data 1404 (e.g., receiveddata, data that is being received, data scheduled for broadcast, datapackets of the data, etc.). Device data 1404 or other device content caninclude configuration settings of the device, media content stored onthe device, and/or information associated with a user of the device.Media content stored on computing system 1400 can include any type ofaudio, video, and/or image data. Computing system 1400 includes one ormore data inputs 1406 via which any type of data, media content, and/orinputs can be received, such as human utterances, interactions with alocalized radar field, user-selectable inputs (explicit or implicit),messages, music, television media content, recorded video content, andany other type of audio, video, and/or image data received from anycontent and/or data source.

Computing system 1400 also includes communication interfaces 1408, whichcan be implemented as any one or more of a serial and/or parallelinterface, a wireless interface, any type of network interface, a modem,and as any other type of communication interface. Communicationinterfaces 1408 provide a connection and/or communication links betweencomputing system 1400 and a communication network by which otherelectronic, computing, and communication devices communicate data withcomputing system 1400.

Computing system 1400 includes one or more processors 1410 (e.g., any ofmicroprocessors, controllers, and the like), which process variouscomputer-executable instructions to control the operation of computingsystem 1400 and to enable techniques for, or in which can be embodied, aradar-based gesture-recognition through a wearable device. Alternativelyor in addition, computing system 1400 can be implemented with any one orcombination of hardware, firmware, or fixed logic circuitry that isimplemented in connection with processing and control circuits which aregenerally identified at 1412. Although not shown, computing system 1400can include a system bus or data transfer system that couples thevarious components within the device. A system bus can include any oneor combination of different bus structures, such as a memory bus ormemory controller, a peripheral bus, a universal serial bus, and/or aprocessor or local bus that utilizes any of a variety of busarchitectures.

Computing system 1400 also includes computer-readable media 1414, suchas one or more memory devices that enable persistent and/ornon-transitory data storage (i.e., in contrast to mere signaltransmission), examples of which include random access memory (RAM),non-volatile memory (e.g., any one or more of a read-only memory (ROM),flash memory, EPROM, EEPROM, etc.), and a disk storage device. A diskstorage device may be implemented as any type of magnetic or opticalstorage device, such as a hard disk drive, a recordable and/orrewriteable compact disc (CD), any type of a digital versatile disc(DVD), and the like. Computing system 1400 can also include a massstorage media device 1416.

Computer-readable media 1414 provides data storage mechanisms to storedevice data 1404, as well as various device applications 1418 and anyother types of information and/or data related to operational aspects ofcomputing system 1400. For example, an operating system 1420 can bemaintained as a computer application with computer-readable media 1414and executed on processors 1410. Device applications 1418 may include adevice manager, such as any form of a control application, softwareapplication, signal-processing and control module, code that is nativeto a particular device, a hardware abstraction layer for a particulardevice, and so on.

Device applications 1418 also include any system components, engines, ormanagers to implement radar-based gesture-recognition through a wearabledevice. In this example, device applications 1418 include gesturemanager 206 and system manager 224.

CONCLUSION

Although embodiments of techniques using, and apparatuses including,radar-based gesture-recognition through a wearable device have beendescribed in language specific to features and/or methods, it is to beunderstood that the subject of the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, thespecific features and methods are disclosed as example implementationsof radar-based gesture-recognition through a wearable device.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a radar-basedgesture-recognition system configured to sense gestures; a microwaveradio element; one or more computer processors; and one or morecomputer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that,responsive to execution by the one or more computer processors, performoperations comprising: causing the microwave radio element to provide alocalized radar field adjacent the system, the localized radar fieldcorresponding to a surface radar field through which an interaction issensed, the surface radar field conforming to a surface of an object andbeing divided into selectable control regions; causing the radar-basedgesture-recognition system to sense the interaction through the surfaceradar field, the interaction interrupting one or more of the selectablecontrol regions of the surface radar field at or near the surface of theobject; determining a two-dimensional gesture or a three-dimensionalgesture based on the sensed interaction through the surface radar field;outputting data corresponding to the determined gesture.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the microwave radio element is configured to emitmicrowave radiation in a 3 GHz to 300 GHz range and further comprisingan antenna element configured to sense the interaction in the surfaceradar field to a resolution of approximately two to 25 millimeters, theresolution of the locations based on the 3 GHz to 300 GHz range of theemitted microwave radiation.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein themicrowave radio element is configured to emit microwave radiationcapable of substantially penetrating clothing and not substantiallypenetrating human tissue, and further comprising an antenna element orsignal processor configured to differentiate between gestureinteractions in the surface radar field caused by clothing from gestureinteractions in the surface radar field caused by human tissue.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the surface of the object to which thesurface radar field conforms is at least partially curved.
 5. The systemof claim 1, wherein the surface of the object to which the surface radarfield conforms is planar.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the surfaceradar field conforms to a human hand adjacent to the radar-basedgesture-recognition system.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein thesurface radar field conforms to a shirt-sleeve collar adjacent to theradar-based gesture-recognition system.
 8. The system of claim 1,wherein the microwave radio element is configured to emit continuouslymodulated radiation, ultra-wideband radiation, orsub-millimeter-frequency radiation.
 9. The system of claim 1, whereinthe microwave radio element is configured to form emitted radiation inbeams, the beams enabling the antenna element and the signal processorto determine which of the beams are interrupted.
 10. The system of claim1, further comprising a remote device with a display and wherein theoperations further comprise causing the display to present a visualapproximation of a location corresponding to the sensed interaction. 11.The system of claim 10, wherein the display of the remote devicepresents an interface showing the one or more selectable control regionsof the surface radar field and wherein the visual approximation of thelocation corresponding to the sensed interaction indicates selection ofone of the selectable control regions responsive to sensing theinteraction in the surface radar field.
 12. A method implemented by aradar-based gesture recognition system comprising: causing a microwaveradio element of the radar-based gesture recognition system to provide alocalized radar field, the localized radar field corresponding to asurface radar field through which an interaction is sensed, the surfaceradar field conforming to a surface of an object and being divided intoone or more selectable control regions; causing the radar-basedgesture-recognition system to sense the interaction through the surfaceradar field, the interaction interrupting one or more of the one or moreselectable control regions of the surface radar field at or near thesurface of the object; determining a two-dimensional gesture or athree-dimensional gesture based on the sensed interaction through thesurface radar field; outputting data corresponding to the determinedgesture.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the microwave radio elementis configured to emit microwave radiation in a 3 GHz to 300 GHz range,and wherein the method further comprises: sensing, by an antenna elementof the radar-based gesture recognition system, the interaction in thesurface radar field to a resolution of approximately two to 25millimeters, the resolution based on the 3 GHz to 300 GHz range of theemitted microwave radiation.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein themicrowave radio element is configured to emit microwave radiationcapable of substantially penetrating clothing and not substantiallypenetrating human tissue, and further comprising an antenna element orsignal processor configured to differentiate between gestureinteractions in the surface radar field caused by clothing from gestureinteractions in the surface radar field caused by human tissue.
 15. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the surface of the object to which thesurface radar field conforms is at least partially curved.
 16. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the surface radar field conforms to a humanhand adjacent to the radar-based gesture-recognition system or ashirt-sleeve collar adjacent to the radar-based gesture-recognitionsystem.
 17. An electronic apparatus comprising: a radar-basedgesture-recognition system configured to sense gestures; a microwaveradio element; one or more computer processors; and one or morecomputer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that,responsive to execution by the one or more computer processors, performoperations comprising: causing the microwave radio element to provide alocalized radar field adjacent the system, the localized radar fieldcorresponding to a surface radar field through which an interaction issensed, the surface radar field conforming to a surface of an object andbeing divided into selectable control regions; causing the radar-basedgesture-recognition system to sense the interaction through the surfaceradar field, the interaction interrupting one or more of the selectablecontrol regions of the surface radar field at or near the surface of theobject; determining a two-dimensional gesture or a three-dimensionalgesture based on the sensed interaction through the surface radar field;outputting data corresponding to the determined gesture.
 18. Theelectronic apparatus of claim 17, wherein the microwave radio element isconfigured to emit microwave radiation in a 3 GHz to 300 GHz range andfurther comprising an antenna element configured to sense theinteraction in the surface radar field to a resolution of approximatelytwo to 25 millimeters, the resolution of the locations based on the 3GHz to 300 GHz range of the emitted microwave radiation.
 19. Theelectronic apparatus of claim 17, wherein the microwave radio element isconfigured to emit microwave radiation capable of substantiallypenetrating clothing and not substantially penetrating human tissue, andfurther comprising an antenna element or signal processor configured todifferentiate between gesture interactions in the surface radar fieldcaused by clothing from gesture interactions in the surface radar fieldcaused by human tissue.
 20. The electronic apparatus of claim 17,further comprising a display having an interface showing selectablecontrol regions of the surface radar field and wherein the operationsfurther comprise causing the display to present a visual approximationof a location corresponding to the sensed interaction, the visualapproximation indicating selection of one of the selectable controlregions responsive to sensing the interaction in the surface radarfield.